SANTA ANA, Calif. - A report released Thursday estimates more than 2.5 million immigrants in the country illegally live in the metropolitan areas of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which have pledged to fight President Donald Trump’s plans to expand deportations.

The study by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center provides a glimpse of where immigrants in the country illegally reside and regions that could be most affected by Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

It also underscores the challenges Trump could face in rounding up large numbers of deportees, because many areas that are home to large numbers of immigrants lacking legal papers oppose his plans.

Any actions by the new administration could also be widely felt among immigrant communities in regions such as Phoenix, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver. In these areas, 37 percent of immigrants lack legal status, compared to 26 percent nationwide, the report said.

About 61 percent of immigrants in the country illegally live in 20 metropolitan areas, the report said.

The Pew report estimates there are 11.1 million immigrants in the country illegally, or 3.5 percent of the overall U.S. population.

New York led the metro areas in number of illegal immigrants, with 1.1 million, followed by Los Angeles (1 million), Houston (575,000) and Dallas-Fort Worth (475,000). Miami was fifth with 450,000 unauthorized immigrants.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - There were smiles, nervousness and a palpable sense of relief among both the 10 members of two refugee families who arrived at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Friday morning, and the people who welcomed them with flowers and signs.

The families, one Syrian (from Aleppo) and one Iraqi, were en route to the United States Thursday when a federal appeals court panel maintained the freeze on President Donald Trump's immigration ban of refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

77% of refugees allowed into U.S. since travel reprieve hail from seven suspect countries By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Thursday, February 9, 2017

The State Department has more than doubled the rate of refugees from Iraq, Syria and other suspect countries in the week since a federal judge’s reprieve, in what analysts said appears to be a push to admit as many people as possible before another court puts the program back on ice.

A staggering 77 percent of the 1,100 refugees let in since Judge James L. Robart’s Feb. 3 order have been from the seven suspect countries. Nearly a third are from Syria alone — a country that President Trump has ordered be banned altogether from the refugee program. Another 21 percent are from Iraq. By contrast, in the two weeks before Judge Robart’s order, just 9 percent of refugees were from Syria and 6 percent were from Iraq.

The U.S. State Department has more than doubled the refugee inflow from seven terror-prone countries since a Seattle judge’s decision to block President Donald Trump’s immigration reform, according to a report in The Washington Times.

Since the Feb. 3 ruling, 1,100 refugees have entered the United States, with 77 percent arriving from the seven terror-prone countries outlined on Trump’s executive order.

In a statement to The Washington Times, the State Department said the increase in numbers was a result of “rescheduling those whose travel had been suspended the previous week.”

The countries, which include Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen, were originally deemed a terror threat by President Barack Obama’s administration, as part of the Terrorist Prevention Act of 2015.

Consulate officials say theses are only partial numbers for targeted arrests -- and the numbers could go up as they get more information.

An ICE officer injured today stopped a family on a traffic violation. Driver was undocumented, two women in vehicle had outstanding warrants.

We've got a congressman (Castro) now wanting to know if any of the retained are dangerous OR do that have jobs and families, contributing to the community.

We've got two Texican council members in Austin who are calling an emergency meeting next week. They say the raids are "...to retaliate against our community for standing up for our values against people like Gov. Abbott and Trump."